Exploratory Study on Circular Economy Approaches A Comparative Analysis of Theory and Practice

46 3 Research Method

disclosed on the circular economy commitment were used in the analysis. All

documents used in this inquiry are publicly accessible. The advantage of docu-

ments in general is their stability, unobtrusiveness and broadness. On the other

hand, it is important to be careful concerning the bias a document can have based

on its purpose or authors (Yin 2014). To manage this weakness the purpose of the

document as well as its author and its role within the organization were taken into

consideration.

3.2.2 Data Collection

The second phase in the research process consists mainly of conducting the interviews

as well as collecting the documents. To collect the data the instruments which have

been designed in the previous phase are used. As indicated by the dotted arrows in

the figure, data collection and analysis usually are an iterative process. This is why

a timely overlap of the data collection and data analysis phase is beneficial for the

research process. Starting data analysis while the data collection is not yet finalized

accelerates the process. Furthermore, it enables the researcher to make adjustments

to the collection instruments when first results indicate the necessity (Eisenhardt

1989). The primary data used in this study were collected between July 2014 and

May 2015. Primary data are for the most part interviews supplemented with field

notes taken during and after the case interviews. Interviews were conducted with

one expert in each of the nine organizations. For each case study, at least one doc-

ument was identified containing relevant information regarding circular economy

commitment sand used as secondary data. The exact amount and type of documents

collected is shown in Table 3.

Table 3 Overview of collected data per case

Name Interview

Partner

Collected Documents

Eta Head of

Sustainability

& CSR

•   Sustainability Report 2013

Alpha Vice President

for Environ-

mental Affairs

and

Philanthropy

•   Environmental and Social Initiatives 2014 Report

•   Online Documents on Corporate Homepage:

•   The footprint chronicles, Worn Wear, Vote the Environ-

ment, Becoming a Responsible Company, The Responsible

Economy (accessed from October 14 - June 15)